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The Show Must Go On, Part 2
Where we last left our heroes, they were not only facing the Uber Ursa (and his robot scientist translator) and his elephant minion, but I had also ended the issue with 15 robot circus performers appearing. There was also the problem of THE MACHINE shooting a beam into the sky (as super hero tradition dictates) and the fact that Zap Boy was losing control of his powers thanks to the AMPLIGON, at the perimeter of the circus. Meanwhile, in town, a body is being carried by paramedics out of the burned Sentinel City library, where Jacqueline Worth continues to harp on about the evils of Zap Boy, and how all the damage is his responsibility. The body is that of Louey, one of the three criminals who tried to steal the Scroll of Babylon, and was left in the burning basement. He is apparently still alive, miraculously unburnt but also seemingly comatose. At the Sentinel City Science Symposium, a professional academic in a large white hat and duster coat, identified as Professor G, is leaving the buildings, as he sees the beam of energy tearing into the sky, as well as the bursts of electricity energy spewing out wildly in the suburbs. “Oh, this is not good” he comments. Having been present at the Symposium, he is entirely aware of what has been stolen and what the New Sentinels have gone to deal with. And with the power of GRAVITY CONTROL, he floats up into the air. In the circus tent Uber Ursa gains more animal aid as he turns the armour of the two fallen (but not unconscious) horses into spider-harnesses to allow them to move, as they climbed up the circus stalls. Flower Girl, ended the last issue trying to pin the Uber Ursa by dropping on him with a force-field, but also knocked out and crushed the monkey that had climbed onto his shoulder. As a result of her aggression, her love-based powers failed her, and she was flung to the ground. The dog that she had previously put to sleep awoke. The technopathic bear's elephant was also still very much a threat. As the first opening gambit, Napalm uses his heat powers to overload the antennae of the circus-bots, whilst Jackhammer uses his multi-wave scanner to deactivate all of the circusbots, though the translator is still standing. Professor G lifts up a massive rock remotely with gravitational powers and drops it onto the central cylinder of The Machine (the part not containing any captives, fortunately). This immediately stopped the beam, but there was a crack of darkness, interlaced with green energy, in the sky, left behind. Professor G then floats down to Zap Boy, asking him what was going on, and Zap Boy makes it clear that the Ampligon is making his powers go crazy. So the Prof throws the crystal into the air. Zap Boy pumps all of the excess electricity flowing through him into the Ampligon as it sails into the sky. This makes the Ampligon glow brighter and brighter, as the energy flies into the sky-tear... and makes it bigger. Napalm takes off into the air and blasts the two spider-harnessed horses, taking them down, before flying into the air above the circus tent. Whilst the others try and save the day, the powerless Flower Girl feels great remorse for the unconscious monkey. Trying to regain the powers from the sorrow she feels, she dashes off towards the fight. The elephant shoots a beam of ice upwards at Napalm whilst the dog goes for Flower Girl. Napalm erects a heat shield in front of him, but as the ice contacts it, it explodes with steam, and knocks Napalm down to the ground, heavily injured yet unfrozen. Flower Girl throws off the flower wreath in her hair and throws it to the dog to fetch. The angry dog tears up the wreath to face and readies for a leap.Professor G and Zap Boy discussed what to do about the inter-dimensional tear in the sky, and decide to unite their powers to close it. The Prof floats up to the portal to examine it. As Uber Ursa tries to use his technopathic powers on Jackhammer, Jackhammer thinks patriotic thoughts to resist. However, Uber Ursa is not trying to control his mind, and turns Jackhammer's feet into clamps, clamping the robotic hero to the ground! Napalm gets airborne again and blasts and knocks out the dog attacking Flower Girl. He then shatters Uber Ursa's bubble helmet with a fiery bolt, and releases several flaming snares around the bear. Flower Girl decides to climb up onto the elephant and then loudly squeaks to terrify the elephant, making it charge forward. Accidentally, it charges right at Jackhammer who grabs the elephant's trunk. The sheer force makes Flower Girl fall, where she is considerably injured. Jackhammer directs an ice beam from the elephant's trunk device at Uber Ursa, which turns Napalm's fire to steam and fails to freeze the bear, though it does hurt him. Professor G uses his gravitational powers to contain the interdimensional rift, whilst Zap Boy overloads the energy running through the rift and closes it. There is a ripple of green energy left behind, which shoots through the sky. Louey is AWAKENED, with skin tough as concrete. With vengeance on Zap Boy on his mind for screwing his planned theft and leaving him to die, he smashes through the hospital window and lands several stories down, cracking part of the curb in half. “Huh. Looks like you're about to get curb-stomped, Zap Boy. Huh. Curb, I like the sound of that.” The new super-villain (and Titanverse classic!) then stomps his way down the road. With The Machine bust, the rift closed and only one animal minion left standing and held by Jackhammer, Uber Ursa had several pages of dramatic monologue and TRANSFORMATION! He uses his technopathic power to control and modify machinery to turn the inactive circus bots into component parts, adding to the builk and armament of his own suit. He merges it with the cybernetic harnesses and weapon systems of his animal minions, as he draws those parts towards him. He turns the horse-armour into fore-claws and the vibration emitting hooves of the donkey attach to his rear limbs. The dog's helmet, comm array and eye sensor form around his head, replacing his lost bubble helmet. The lion's (unused) sonic energy-emitting muzzle attaches around the bear's mouth. He attaches the monkey's gun and the seal's bomb launcher to his upper forelimbs. He then attaches the elephant's trunk-device to his right shoulder and attaches the elephant's armour and rack missile launcher to his back, using internal microcircuitry and outer plating from the robots to create more missiles. Now around thirty foot high, he declares himself the ULTRA-UBER URSA! Napalm, still airborne, blasts Uber Ursa in the unprotected eye, blinding it. Flower Girl lies powerless beneath the giant foe, and in the heat of the moment, her powers flare up. Professor G flies over the circus and notices the two devices containing Immortal and Silent Shadow and throws two metal shards to shatter the containment devices, releasing the prisoners. Flower Girl then notices the Prof, and the Prof seems taken with her. Zap Boy looks towards the circus and teleports in to give the Prof a high five, declaring 'Science Bros!' He then asks him what the hell to do next. Jackhammer spins the elephant by the trunk and throws it at Uber Ursa. The Uber Ursa catches the animal and settles it down incredibly gently. The translator still at the bear's feet translates his angry bellows, as he roars how he hates animal cruelty and settles into a monologue of his tragic back-story. The bear now called Uber Ursa and the other animals with him were all part of a travelling circus in Germany, which treated all of the animals not only poorly, but even flogged them to try and 'encourage' them to perform. When the bear was first brought onto the stage, he was frightened by the massive crowd and the flashes of their cameras. The fear of this, combined with a lot of pent-up trauma, awakened powers (mutant, triggered by Promethean Fire, it is implied) within the bear. All the cameras shattered or exploded. Panic occurred amongst the crowd and the bear escaped the circus in the confusion. Wandering through the woods, the bear eventually came across an abandoned Nazi base. It was there its powers awakened the computers and it learned of human language and history from the recordings there. But this was a Nazi view of history, and this knowledge only cemented the Uber Ursa's hatred of humankind. The lab contained deactivated humanoid Reichdroids, of a similar design to Jackhammer's original design as well as other cybernetic weapons. He returned to the circus that had tormented him, taking it over, freeing the animals, giving them cybernetic weapons and replacing the human staff with robots. After kidnapping Silent Shadow five years again, he has been using his powers to move the travelling circus. After explaining all this, the giant cyber-enhanced bear tears through the circus tent and fires a spree of rockets and an ice beam towards the city. Jackhammer manages to drag himself into Ramming Speed and slams it into the mecha-bear. Professor G then lifts up Jackhammer out of Ramming Speed and drops him onto Uber Ursa, knocking him down. Napalm heat blasts the cybernetic eyepiece that UUU has, completely blinding him. As the villain lies prone, Napalm welds the cybernetic limbs together. Flower Girl reaches into UUU's mind, showing him all the horrors that the Nazis inflicted and then shows him his childhood as a bear, trying to convince him to stray from the path of violence he has chosen. This seems to be working... and then Zap Boy sends a jolt of electricity through the mech, trying to overload it. The angry bear tears the welding of the forelimbs apart. Unfortunately, since no hero dealt with the missiles or ice beam, several buildings are set aflame and one is frozen. Uber Ursa goes rather mental, unleashing a sonic roar. "Farewell Ramming Speed", utters Jackhammer as he detonates the jeep. Unfortunately, the sonic roar repels most of the force of the blast. Zap Boy ends up in a BEAM STRUGGLE and holds back the sonic wave, neither managing to harm the villain or be harmed. Napalm melts the ice freezing a building and flies off back to the fight, not considering the frozen water now falling from a great height on the citizens below! Fortunately, Professor G catches the frozen water and redirects it onto the burning buildings. Napalm fuses the sonic device attached to UUU's mouth. Flower Girl then goes to the final flaming building and uses a love force-field to contain the fire and extinguish it. Flower Girl uses her love for her new-found team to empower them. Zap Boy and Napalm then launch into the air; Napalm's energy form fuses with Zap Boy's body as they become ZAPALM! With their pyroelectric powers they blast the villain in the face. Prof G then throws the mecha-bear into the clouds. He is knocked unconscious as he falls to the ground and the robotic body shatters into pieces around him. Jackhammer then deals with the robot translator, putting it to sleep as it goes on the attack. With the villain defeated, Silent Shadow approaches the heroes and thanks them for freeing him. He asks them if they knew the 'green chap', who went off to the city by himself. The heroes exchange glances. The Immortal strides towards Sentinel City, vowing them never to be pushed around or controlled ever again. In a final scene, Louey departs a shop by stepping through the window, dressed in a sharp white suit and hat. Police try and stop him, but the bullets bounce off harmlessly. He ignores them, striding off the street, ready for action as a new super-villain, The Curb.